Bailey's story
Bailey started at the William Henry Smith School in 2016 in year 3 with SEMH needs following a permanent exclusion from a previous school. At the start of his journey, Bailey struggled to interact positively with his peers, had high anxiety and concentration difficulties and displayed some disruptive behaviours. Bailey would often find himself struggling to regulate to the point where he would lash out at staff. He lacked confidence in his ability and disliked reading and writing.
Bailey had a slow start to his journey at William Henry Smith, with lots of nurturing opportunities and time to settle in. Eventually, Bailey joined his first learning group where he was able to build positive relationships with staff and peers. He also had lots of support from our speech and language therapists and became more confident in his communication. He developed solid keyworker relationships and staff were able to quickly identify that being active and playing out was a helpful tool for Bailey throughout the day to self-regulate. Bailey started to engage with after-school activities and developed the ability to interact with his peers through games and sports.
As Bailey grew and matured, his independence grew and he developed skills in other areas of the curriculum. Bailey worked hard to develop his maths and literacy and had lots of individual tutoring sessions to build his confidence. His love of sport also developed and this helped to shape the rest of Bailey’s journey at William Henry Smith. He took a real interest in looking after himself and taking pride in his strengths. Bailey sought out support from staff at school, carers at home and sports coaches to help him with the knowledge and skills to achieve his goals.
As he moved into year 11, Bailey had achieved some amazing outcomes with the support of his key staff around him. Bailey also completed a work experience at Huddersfield Giants rugby club, working alongside the marketing team and ex-rugby players. Bailey developed a wealth of knowledge at his placement and was overjoyed to be able to share his experiences and photos with the support system around him. By the end of year 11, Bailey achieved functional skills English and GCSE in Maths and Biology. He secured a course in Sports and Fitness at a local college which he is now attending and succeeding with.
Bailey's thoughts...
"When I first started in 2016 at 8 years old, I had a lot of difficulty with controlling my temper. There is no denying there has been some difficult times. And it has taken a lot of work to get to this point."
"I struggled with my anger and my behaviour and found it hard to accept help. Looking back, I am able to laugh. With support from staff and my parents I have learnt to control my behaviour and reach out for help when I need it. This school has been amazing, and I have so many good memories."